For every major decision we make, we are always short of information. This creates a bounded rationality within which we have to operate. Yet we constantly over-estimate our ability to plan. Front-end loading practices and PM practices have become ritualized myths. One of the most outrageous of the managerial myths is that one can anticipate and predict the future with significant accuracy. There is a significant need for a change in the current practices and for a new management framework when working on major capital projects.
Challenge the conventional project management belief that we can understand the project world around us both now and in the future.
It is time organizations accepted near-term thinking as a valuable and necessary approach in the current project delivery environment.
Our argument for the near-term thinking is made based on the failure of long-term thinking as evidenced by the many examples of major projects everywhere that were not delivered according to the original expectations.Good project planning does not come from detailed planning and scheduling developed in client’s head offices, rather it comes from experienced people doing their jobs everyday working together collaboratively developing realistic plans and reacting to project realities as they emerge. These people are reacting to their changing environment, making adjustments to handle the present, making predictions about the near future. Everything takes place in the present.
It is a mistake to look too far ahead.
Only one link of the chain of destiny can be handled at a time. (Winston Churchill)
